Drug Trafficking
The illegal trade of drugs in black markets is perhaps one of the most profitable businesses globally. It involves the cultivation, processing, sale and distribution of drugs that are all subject to prohibition laws in the different countries. Trade in most jurisdictions is mostly allowed only under license through drug prohibition laws. According to reports from the United Nations, the global drug trade generated an estimated total of US $321.6 billion back in 2003 which was one of the highest in history. In the same year, the illegal trade generated a world Gross Domestic Product of US$36 trillion estimating it to occupy nearly 1% of the total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally. Although drug trafficking attracts some of the most sophisticated, ruthless and aggressive traffickers, federal authorities have the responsibility of tracking them down and sustaining seizures to ensure a general decline in the harmful effects of the illicit trade.
Statistics
The drug law enforcement agencies worldwide often face enormous challenges as they work to protect the borders of their countries. According to the United States Customs Service, approximately 60 million people usually enter the borders of the United States on more than 675,000 private and commercial flights. There are other 6 million who get in by sea as 370 million enter by land. In Canada and Mexico, an additional 116 million vehicles cross their land borders. When it comes to entry by sea, more than 90,000 passenger and merchant ships often dock at the different ports in the U.S. In these ships, there are usually more than 400 million tons of cargo and more than 9 million shipping containers. Coastal towns in the U.S are also usually visited by other 157,000 smaller vessels. In this thriving and voluminous trade, drug traffickers are able to conceal tons of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), as well as different shipments for massive distribution in other U.S. neighborhoods.
Criminal Distribution Groups
There are diverse groups that distribute and traffic illegal drugs. In South America, criminal groups operating in the areas smuggle heroin and cocaine into the borders of the United States through different routes that include land routes in Mexico, sea routes via the Caribbean, maritime routes along the east and west coasts of Mexico and the international air corridors. Furthermore, the criminal groups in the neighboring Mexico also smuggle heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States. It is these criminal groups that have smuggled marijuana and heroin throughout the U.S and the Southwest Border since the early 1970s. In addition to distributing these methamphetamine and cocaine in the Midwest and the West, these groups that are mostly based in Mexico are now attempting to expand their distribution into eastern markets in the U.S.
The use of the drug 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) which is also known as “Ecstasy” on the streets has been reported to be rapidly and gradually increasing at an alarming rate in the United States over the past couple of years. Russian and Israeli drug trafficking syndicates as well as the Western Europe-based drug traffickers are some of the principal traffickers of the “Ecstasy” (MDMA) drug globally. The MDMA that is primarily manufactured in Western Europe is usually smuggled into the United States through couriers via express package couriers and commercial airlines. However, there are similarly criminal groups that are based in the Southwest and Southeast Asia that smuggle heroin into the United States. All these criminal groups as are evidenced from observations, use New York City as their major distribution hub. The groups move heroin into the Midwest after several movements up and down the eastern seaboard.
Growth and Production
Besides, these criminal groups that are based abroad, there are domestic organizations that produce, cultivate, manufactures and distribute these illegal drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana, methamphetamine and phencyclidine (PCP). Through growing the high-potency sinsemilla, the local and domestic cannabis growers are also usually able to easily provide marijuana that can compete with other illegal drugs. With the demand for methamphetamine still remaining high, particularly in the Midwest and the West so does the number of the illicit laboratories supplying the methamphetamine that sustains the increasing number of addicts. There are additionally a handful of chemists that often manufactures LSD that is subsequently distributed especially to college and high school students throughout the United States.
Cocaine
The abuse and trafficking of cocaine continue to threaten the safety and health of American citizens. According to reports by drug abuse indicators, both the crack and powder cocaine use in the United States have stabilized although at high levels. The distribution, trafficking and abuse of crack cocaine have now spread from the urban environments too much smaller suburban areas and cities of the country. This has altogether brought a commensurate increase in the level of criminal activity and violence. However, the level of violence that is associated with the trafficking of cocaine does not compare to that back in the 1980s when the crack epidemic was rampart and at its worst.
Cocaine Trafficking in Colombia and Mexico
The primary points of entry for cocaine into the U.S are through its Mexican border. Approximately 65 percent of all the cocaine that is smuggled into the U.S crosses in through the Southwest border, according to a recent interagency by the intelligence assessment. In almost all of the major cities and states in the U.S Cocaine is usually readily available. The organized criminal groups that operate in Columbia usually control the global supply of cocaine. This is achieved through a complex and sophisticated infrastructure that moves the cocaine by air, land and sea into the United States. In the U.S, they operate the distribution and the money laundering from the drugs’ proceeds through a vast infrastructural network with multiple cells that function in all the major metropolitan areas. Each cell is assigned a specific duty within the organization that may be local distribution, transportation or money movement this complex process is often overseen by key managers in Colombia.
Prices, Purity and Seizures of Cocaine
Cocaine prices have remained stable and low indicating a steady supply to the United States. The wholesale nationwide prices for cocaine in 2001, for instance, varied from $12,000 to $35,000 per kilogram. However in most of the majority metropolitan areas, the price per kilogram of cocaine ranged from $13,000 to $25,000. The average purity for cocaine at all units of measurements has also remained stable and high over time. In 2001 for instance, the average purity per kilogram was 73 percent. Secondary retailers and wholesalers of the cocaine HCl are usually the ones who convert the crack cocaine, or "rock," within the U.S. This crack cocaine is usually packaged in glassine bags, vials and film canisters and their size can vary from 1/10 to 1/2 gram and can sell from $3 to $50 although the prices generally range from $10 to $20. According to the Federal-wide Drug Seizure System (FDSS), the federal authorities in the U.S were able to seize over 111 metric tons of cocaine in the same year. This was a moderate increase of over 107 metric tons as compared to that of the previous year in 2000.
Heroin
Heroin, on the other hand, is similarly usually readily available in most of the cities in the U. S as evidenced by the unprecedented high levels of average retail. The criminal groups in four of the foreign source areas that produce the available heroin in the United States are South America (Colombia), Mexico, Southeast Asia (Burma) and the Middle East/Southwest Asia (Afghanistan). However, most of the heroin that is produced in South America and Mexico is usually destined for the U.S. market. Over the past years, each of this four source areas has been able to exercise dominance over the U.S. market. The U. S has also experienced a dramatic shift in its heroin market over the past 30 years from the Southeast Asian production areas to the South American heroin, particularly in the East. There has also been an increase in the use of the powdered high purity heroin that is effectively be snorted to the new younger user population. This group of new users is. According to drug treatment specialists this is gradually progressing towards a general addiction. There are four major sources of heroin for the U.S market which include the: South West Asian Heron, Southeast Asian Heroin, Mexican Heroine and South American Heroin.
Purity, Prices and Seizures of Heroin
The price and purity of heroin on the streets indicate its availability. There has been a significant rise in the average purity of heroin and hence the corresponding increases in its availability especially in the northeastern states of the U. S. Globally, SA heroin prices range from $50,000 to $200,000 per kilogram, with the others from SEA and SWA ranging from $40,000 to $190,000 per kilogram. Wholesale-level prices of the Mexican heroin usually have the lowest prices of $13,200 to $175,000 per kilogram. FDSS statistics indicates heroin seizures of up to 2,506 to 1,673 kilograms depending on the drug availability.
Methamphetamine
The domestic production of methamphetamine together with its abuse and trafficking is more concentrated in the southwestern, western and Midwestern United States. It is also available in the eastern and southern United States. Most of its laboratories are found in Mexico and California.
Purity, Prices and Seizures
When compared to the other drugs, the purity levels of methamphetamine usually fluctuate due to the unstable supply of its precursor chemicals which are usually dosage-form ephedrine or pseudoephedrine drug products. The prices for Methamphetamine prices vary in different regions of the United States as they range from $3,500 to $21,000 per pound with the retail prices ranging from $400 to $3,000 per ounce. Seizures range from 2,807 kilograms to 3,373 kilograms according to statistics in 2000.
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most readily available and widely distributed illicit drug with millions of users and is considered a precursor to the world of illicit drug abuse. Some of the factors that have contributed to its popularity include relaxed public perception of harm, smoking trends of marijuana-filled cigars and popularization by groups and media that advocate legalization. Production and distribution is varied and is distributed amongst, domestic, Mexican and Canadian Marijuana that are all distributed by organized crime groups.
Prices, potency and Seizures
The prices for the commercial-grade marijuana have been significantly stable over the decades as the approximate range from $400 to $1,000 per pound in U.S and $700 to $2000 in the South Western border. According to the FDSS, seizures have varied from 211 to 1,236 metric tons from figures in 2000.
Conclusion
There are numerous other drugs that are illegally trafficked in the U.S which include: MDMA, GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), GBL (gamma butyrolactone), Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), Flunitrazepam, Phencyclidine (PCP) and steroids. These are all smuggled from Mexican, Asian and European sources as well as locally processed in laboratories. Most of these drugs are more proliferated in the young generation and are particularly used as ‘club drugs'. For these drugs, however, seizures are reduced due to the limited control of federal authorities over their international control and foreign supplies which make this difficult to traffic their source.
Works Cited
United Nations Publications. Forum on Crime and Society. Vol. 1, No. 2, Dec. 2001. New York:
UN, 2001. Print.
Kelly, Robert J, Jess Maghan, and Joseph Serio. Illicit Trafficking: A Reference Handbook. Santa
Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Print.
Sayaka, Fukumi. Cocaine Trafficking in Latin America: EU and US Policy Responses: Global
Security in a Changing World. U. K: Ashgate Publishing. 2013. Print.
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